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Film Screening and Discussion - Vahe Oshagan: Between Acts, AUA

Publish Date: Oct 10, 2016

Event Dates: from Oct 14, 2016 06:00 to Oct 14, 2016 08:00

Vahe Oshagan: Between Acts

Film Screening: Vahe Oshagan Between Acts, followed by discussion and Q/A with the film director/author Hrayr Eulmessekian

An innovative film about the life and work of the Armenian writer Vahé Oshagan will screen on October 14, at the Manoogian Hall, American University of Armenia, at 6:00 PM. The first film dedicated to the writing of this seminal figure in modern Armenian letters, Vahé Oshagan: Between Acts is the work of Los Angeles film-maker Hrayr (Anmahooni) Eulmessekian.

Hrayr Eulmessekian holds an M.F.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute. His works have been exhibited, screened or broadcast in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York, Yerevan, Art Dubai, Sharjah Biennial March Meeting, and Pratt Manhattan Gallery. He was the guest editor of ArteEast Quarterly, 2014 Spring issue. A founding member of the San Francisco Armenian Film Festival, he serves on its curatorial team. He currently lives in Los Angeles.

Press Release

Screening of Film on Vahé Oshagan at AUA on October 14, 2016

An innovative film about the life and work of the Armenian writer Vahé Oshagan will screen on October 14, at the Manoogian Hall, American University of Armenia, at 6:00 PM.  The first film dedicated to the writing of this seminal figure in modern Armenian letters, Vahé Oshagan: Between Acts is the work of Los Angeles film-maker Hrayr (Anmahooni) Eulmessekian.

When Vahé Oshagan died in 2000, the New York Times, quoting the literary critic and philosopher Marc Nichanian, described him as “the most important poet of his generation.” Eulmessekian’s film is part documentary, part art film, both a tribute and an literary guide to Vahé Oshagan’s prolific output. The film includes interviews with Oshagan himself (who also reads some of his poetry) as well as commentary  on Oshagan’s work by renowned literary critics. The commentary and readings are intertwined with the film-maker’s own visual readings and the late composer Ohannes Salibian’s musical renditions of Oshagan’s poetry. 

Vahé Oshagan:Between Acts is a grounbreaking literary-visual-audio project.  The film, sound, music and film scholar Anahid Kassabian, University of Liverpool, writes: “The film offers a genuine sense of Vahé Oshagan’s work, from his own readings to the major critical thinkers and their perspectives on his oeuvre.  Simultaneously accessible to any viewer and rich enough for any scholar, this film is the definitive audio-visual work on Oshagan and a model of would-be film biographies.” 

Vahé Oshagan: Between Acts was originally commissioned by the Hamazkain Cultural Association, Western Region USA, as a biographical documentary/slide show on the occasion of Oshagan’s 50th jubilee commemoration.  The film has undergone several changes and additions. The current version was made possible through a grant from the Gulbenkian Foundation.

Vahe Oshagan:Between Acts is in Armenian, with English subtitles of the entire film, including Oshagan’s poetry.  The translations are by Taline Voskeritchian. 

Eulmessekian holds an M.F.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute. His works have been exhibited, screened or broadcast in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York, Yerevan, Art Dubai, Sharjah Biennial March Meeting, and Pratt Manhattan Gallery. He was the guest editor of ArteEast Quarterly, 2014 Spring issue.  A founding member of the San Francisco Armenian Film Festival, he serves on its curatorial team. He currently lives in Los Angeles.

Taline Voskeritchian’s prose and translations (from Arabic and Armenian) have appeared in Ahégan (Beirut), London Review of Books, The Nation, Agni Review, Book Forum, Words Without Borders, Journal of Palestine Studies, MERIP/Milddle East Report,  Alik (Tehran), Warwick Review (UK), The Bangalore Review, The Common, Jadaliyyah, Mediterranya, and Howlround, as well as the radio program “On Being”  and on BBC Ireland.  This semester, she is teaching writing courses at the AUA.  In the past, she has taught in Beirut, Los Angeles, Palestine, and has been for many years on the faculty of Boston University’s College of Communication.

A question-and-answer session with the film-maker and the translator will follow the screening. 

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